Now that it's official - the Tampa Bay Buccaneers are headed to the Vet for the third straight playoff season to play the Philadelphia Eagles, only this time, it's for a trip to the Big Game - it's time to gather the Bucs fans on this board together for a little powwow and prayer session. Hopefully, in our 27th year of existence, the football gods above will finally hear our prayers.
What do the Bucs have to do to pull the upset (+3 1/2) next Sunday? And should we even pay attention to the Eggles morons who were writing us off before the San Francisco game was over?
It's simple. The Bucs need to put up points. They haven't been able to do that in Philly the last couple of visits. Score, score often, and contain McNabb, and our beloved Bucs will be visiting me, right here, in San Diego, CA!!
This much I know: the Bucs are not only a better team than the past two seasons when they made first round exits at the Eagles' hands, they are a better team than the were in week seven when they lost in Philly. Will that translate into a victory? I don't know, because the Eagles are the only team in the league with a defensive backfield that can rival that of Tampa Bay's.
Yup, cause it should be an interesting game until someone scores... After that, both teams could put us to sleep with their conservative approaches and solid D.
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If the NFC Title Game was this past weekend, I'd have given Tampa a good shot to win the game. Not only didn't the Eagles impress me that much offensively, but the weather conditions were not awful. Unfortunately, the early weather forecasts in the northeast for next weekend are calling for the coldest temperatures in the past 3-5 years, thus causing (since it will be a 3 rather than the usual 1 pm game)it to be near single digits in the second half, with wind chills below zero. As much as I don't like the Eagles, its tough to pick against them with those conditions plus homefield plus having a mental edge over Tampa by owning them recently at the Vet.
Please help control the McMahon population. Have your Triple H's spayed or neutered.
If nothing else, we have the best 2 NFC teams battling it out for the conference title. With all the parity and random shit that's happened this season, it's good to see the top contenders left standing for the big games. (ditto for the AFC)
The WWE could put on 2 hours of Kevin Kelly sitting on the toilet reading a phone book, and I'd still watch next week.
Any Eagles fans who simply write off the Bucs are kidding themselves. The Eagles-Falcons game had me (as an Eagles fan) cringing repeatedly; Vick didn't find the end zone, but he picked the Eagles' secondary apart in the middle of the field most of the night. That game could have easily gone the other way, if the breaks had fallen differently.
The Bucs' offense doesn't scare me that much, but their defense does, particularly if the Eagles' offense sputters the way it did on Saturday; if McNabb can't move the ball, Johnson won't need that many points to beat them.
Please oh please do NOT give me an Oakland/Philly Super Bowl rematch. When a team I like faces a team I don't like in the Super Bowl, the team I don't like ALWAYS wins(*), and there is no team I loathe more than the Raiders.
(*) This has been almost uniformly true from childhood. The first Super Bowl I was old enough to understand was XIV (Pittsburgh/LA Rams), and starting with that year, I picked seventeen losers in a row. The only exception was Chicago over New England, and that was because only the New England players' mothers thought they had any chance in that game -- and 40-50% of the mothers probably had a side bet on the Bears.
The last few years have been kind -- since XXXI, each Super Bowl has featured either two teams I liked, two I was ambivalent about or one of each, except for XXXV, where Baltimore whipped the Giants and I chortled for weeks. My beloved Broncos won twice, and all was well with the world. If the Super Bowl returns to the like-vs.-hate dynamic this year, some kind of karmic payback is in the offing.
"When I feel depressed, I sit under a willow tree by a cool river, and imagine that I am strangling a duck." -- Kotaro Sarai
Originally posted by vspAny Eagles fans who simply write off the Bucs are kidding themselves. The Eagles-Falcons game had me (as an Eagles fan) cringing repeatedly; Vick didn't find the end zone, but he picked the Eagles' secondary apart in the middle of the field most of the night. That game could have easily gone the other way, if the breaks had fallen differently.
The Bucs' offense doesn't scare me that much, but their defense does, particularly if the Eagles' offense sputters the way it did on Saturday; if McNabb can't move the ball, Johnson won't need that many points to beat them.
Please oh please do NOT give me an Oakland/Philly Super Bowl rematch. When a team I like faces a team I don't like in the Super Bowl, the team I don't like ALWAYS wins(*), and there is no team I loathe more than the Raiders.
(*) This has been almost uniformly true from childhood. The first Super Bowl I was old enough to understand was XIV (Pittsburgh/LA Rams), and starting with that year, I picked seventeen losers in a row. The only exception was Chicago over New England, and that was because only the New England players' mothers thought they had any chance in that game -- and 40-50% of the mothers probably had a side bet on the Bears.
The last few years have been kind -- since XXXI, each Super Bowl has featured either two teams I liked, two I was ambivalent about or one of each, except for XXXV, where Baltimore whipped the Giants and I chortled for weeks. My beloved Broncos won twice, and all was well with the world. If the Super Bowl returns to the like-vs.-hate dynamic this year, some kind of karmic payback is in the offing.
Well, considering that after the Steelers win against the Rams, the only AFC team to win the Superbowl until the Broncos in the '97 season was the Raiders, it would explain why you had such a long losing streak if you always picked the AFC.
Please help control the McMahon population. Have your Triple H's spayed or neutered.
Originally posted by redsoxnationWell, considering that after the Steelers win against the Rams, the only AFC team to win the Superbowl until the Broncos in the '97 season was the Raiders, it would explain why you had such a long losing streak if you always picked the AFC.
It wasn't a case of deliberately picking the AFC -- more so that specific teams I liked (Denver, Philadelphia, Buffalo) OR specific teams I loathed (San Francisco, the Raiders, Washington, Dallas, the Giants) were always present. The one and only time I wanted Washington to win (since they were playing the Raiders), they got blown out. The closest I came to breaking the Jinx in that stretch was XXV, and I burnt Scott Norwood in effigy after the game.
"When I feel depressed, I sit under a willow tree by a cool river, and imagine that I am strangling a duck." -- Kotaro Sarai
Both championship games are wonderful examples of why NFL football is the greatest sport in the world. Both teams were the best in their respective conferences and the games have tremendous backstories.
Each game will be a war with each play an individual battle. Both wars will be similar, yet different.
Ah, what a wonderful time to be a football fan indeed.
Best of luck to all combatants.
"Cry Havock, and let slip the dogs of war."
(edited by evilwaldo on 13.1.03 1641) From the infamous Wrestleline SS interview:
DTD: If you were to make changes in WCW, if you were in charge and not Ric Flair, what would they be?
SS: I'd get rid of all the old guys, and push the talent that has waited to get the push. The things they are doing, it's back in the 1980s. It's just bad, man. Flair doesn't even deserve to be on the show. You've got to get rid of all the old guys. Like what Vince did, they started pushing guys. Nobody knew who The Rock was 2 years ago. He made The Rock. Now The Rock just did Saturday Night Live. You've got to start with the young talent, talent people can relate to. Who are we trying to relate to if we've got a 50 year old man out there? Are we trying to relate, so a 50 year people and above will go out and buy a f*cking little toy? That ain't gonna happen. It's a f*cking joke.
I doubt if theres many Eagles fans out there who genuinely believe they'll walkover Tampa, and if the team goes out there at the weekend with that attitude then we're beaten already. In fact if they think a simple repeat of Week 7 will be enough then we'll get picked apart too.
The Bucs are way to well coached to roll up to the Vet with the same old game plan and take another beating. In Brooks, Rice, and Sapp they also have players capable of turning any game, particularly one like this which is liable to be very close.
For the Eagles to win we need to establish the run and play posession football to keep the Tampa D on the field. If we do that and manage to get a couple of scores up that takes Alstott out the game and means we can start to have some fun blitzing Johnson.
If we fall behind though and start panicking we might as well forget about San Diego. Either way its gonna be a hell of a game.
"I tear my quadricep all the time. Heck I tore it this morning and I'm fine!" Kurt Angle
I think the thing with Hasselbeck was that he was such a flameout before, maybe because he was so hyped. But he's certainly acquitted himself nicely lately.